Heartfelt vlogging

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When it comes to YouTube stardom, Justin Bieber is a poster child for how to make a name for yourself on the video-sharing site.

And locally, so are Ming-jai, Robynn Yip and Kendy Suen.

About a year ago, Ming-jai, whose real name is Tommy Leung, uploaded a YouTube video of himself talking about random issues. It received more than 50,000 views in its first week of release.

But make no mistake: despite its apparently offbeat quality, the clip was not just a random post. Rather, careful planning went into it.

'After being fired from a Canadian media company, I had to find things to do to fill my time for two months,' the 27-year-old says. 'Then I thought, 'Why not make some videos for the internet?''

Since that first clip, Ming-jai's channel - The Freestyle Show - has attracted more than 9 million views and 48,000 subscribers. That's no mean feat - especially when you consider that the channel is entirely in Cantonese.

On the downside, despite support from his loyal fans, Ming-jai also receives some nasty comments about his videos. He takes those in his stride. He's even posted a video joking about the 'haters'.

'To become a successful vlogger [video blogger], you need perseverance and tenacity,' he says. 'It would be unfair to my supporters if I concentrated so much on a few deprecating comments.'

Ming-jai wants to use his new-found fame to help promote Hong Kong's online community which, he believes, is still in its infancy. He plans to set up an association with other Hong Kong YouTube stars to boost the platform's popularity locally.

He should consider recruiting the singing duo Robynn, 24, and Kendy, 25. Although their channel is only two months old, the singers are fast making a name for themselves on YouTube.

The pair sings covers of popular songs. They put a lot of passion into their videos, which is helping to boost their popularity.

Robynn was part of an a cappella group at university, while Kendy did her fair share of busking on the streets of London.

They had each posted videos on YouTube independently before meeting through a mutual friend and starting to collaborate on videos in June.

'We hope our music can be easily accessible and hopefully convey a sense of warmth,' Robynn says.

She says their mission is to bring some moments of joy to people in their daily lives. 'That's why I keep doing what I'm doing,' she notes.

A key to making it on YouTube is to do what you love doing without thinking of fame. 'We're not trying to gain popularity by putting videos up on YouTube,' Kendy says. 'That's not our motivation. Rather we're simply sharing what we love.'

And what they love is music. The pair shares an admiration for Taiwanese singer Crowd Lu Guangzhong.

'We would love to collaborate with Crown Lu. He is cute and always makes people smile,' Robynn says.